911 SC Suspension Project - $25k, 1 1/2 years later

[Gordo2]

I wanted to upgrade the suspension on my SC, but needed some space to do it. $25k and a year and a half later, I'm nearly done - and ready to dig into the suspension project

Only stuff I didn't do: foundation, vinyl siding, shingles on roof, drywall mud. Other than that, it was me, family, a few friends and lots of beers. Looking forward to many new project posts on the car now that this project has come to an end.

Gordo

[SCWDP911]

well done Gordo... I will admit it - I took the bait at first, thinking man, what a suspension that must be! Looks like you have plenty of room to host some SCWDP parties! What are your plans for your suspension...

[yelcab1]

You need a 4 post lift ... What's the use of all that head room without a 4-post lift?

[Gordo2]

Thanks, I have been stocking up on suspension parts during the garage build:

-Tarrett adjustable sways, front and rear, rear mount reinforcement
-ER polybroze monoballs all the way around (front adjustalbe mounts)
-Poly front shock tower bushings (or new rubber, can't remember)
-New balljoints
-Turbo ties
-ER triangulated cross
-Sanders 22/29 torsion bars
(Already installed Bilstein HDs)

-While you are at it parts (brake rotors etc).

Gordo

[midnight911]

1. refridge and...
2. more beers...

very nice

[SCOTITUDE]

New home looks great! Do yourself a favor before you move too much stuff in and look into having the floor polished. Its better than any of the floor paint or epoxy stuff. Especially if you do a lot of work on the car yourself. I did it and its great. Everything wipes up or sweeps out with ease since its sealed. A friend did the epoxy floor . Looked great until he used a floor jack. Tinyest bit of grit under the wheels scratches the floor. Definitely a disappointment.

[GaryR]

Did you do your own plans or buy/find them somewhere?

[RWebb]

polished floor = slippery?

[SCOTITUDE]

not slippery at all. Like a granite countertop. You can even have it colored. Mine came out looking like a terrazo floor. Reflects light great. Depending on the thinkness of the skim coat, they can grind until the aggregate in the concrete is exposed and the stain exaggerates the stones. Or just polish the top. FYI, try this site for a visual. Select a scene and adjust the other options.

http://www.perfectpolishonline.com/designStudio/index.html#

no affiliations.

[Geronimo '74]

Man, that is going to be a nice place to hang out.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by RWebb

polished floor = slippery?

Only if the warehouse stores you shop at are slippery. I like the low maintenance of a polished concrete floor.

Nice garage/work place. Looks big enough to do donuts.

[Ritzblitz]

A kegerator is definitely a requirement.

Nice garage!

[Gordo2]

Any idea if a polished floor is something I can do myself (is that something I can rent the tools to do)? If not, any idea on cost associated with getting it polished. I'm pretty hard on floors, polishing sounds interesting.

My wife bought me a mini-fridge for Christmas - good enough, though the kegerator is an attractive thought...

I bought the plans (~$125.00, good enough to pass plans inspection; I did everything by code with inspections - kind of painful and lots of lessons learned dealing with county inspectors.

Lift: my ceiling is 10' 8", I've toyed around with the idea of lifts - but I don't like the floor space they take up. If I get a lift, I think it will be one of the little set ups that I recess in the floor. Most of the larger ones that I've seen take up too much space (eat up side to side space - I don't want to go from roomy to feeling cramped and getting around stuff).

Hang out - this evening I put away a six pack doing a quick brake bleed/flush for my friend who helped me every step of the way. 40 minute bleed, 3 hour hang out -nothing like having a dedicated man room!

Hosting parties: looking forward to breaking it in, inviting the NoVa gang down for projects.

Gordo

[VinceQN]

I just looked at the polished floors and they look amazing, you gotta do it, or at least u-coat it. Good luck with the place,looks awesome

[Gordo2]

I won't post too many in-progress pictures unless I run into problems - it's all been covered before.

I pretty much followed MuffinMan's process:

Front suspension refreshening

Everything came loose easy enough (I'm not squeamish about breaking out the BFH to bust parts free - they are being replaced...). Both sides disassembled to this point.



Not too bad for a couple of hours on a rainy Saturday afternoon.

Gordo

[Gordo2]

I wrapped up the front suspension removal last weekend.

Had some time this afternoon to start digging into the rear suspension. I have the passenger side this far:



I hope things go back together as quick as they came apart



A good tip on rear suspension removal - don't take off the rear parking brake until you have the axle halves off...

Gordo

[Gordo2]

I had some more time this weekend so I removed the remainder of the rear suspension. Pulling the torsion bars out took some patience (a few beers) and a lot of pulling and wiggling...


Removed the original sway bar mounts from the A-arms:



And welded on the U-bracket for the Tarett sway bar.


Kind of ugly weld... I had been using FLUX and switched to gas (75/25) & MIG today. Played with it a bit and tacked them on. I should have played with it in MIG mode a little more - I had problems holding a continuous arc. I think I had the materials clean, and a good ground - guess I just need some more play time. I was getting decent welds with the FLUX and didn't think there would be much of a change (or thought it would be easier) moving to MIG.

Trying to limit the "while I'm at it" but, but couldn't help myself and pulled the heater flapper boxes for a trip to the powder coaters - happy to say I didn't break any of the studs; 3 days of reapplying PB blaster works wonders.

Stockpiling loads of in process photos; thought I would share a few.

Gordo

[scottrx7tt]

if you guys want any more information about concrete polishing, feel free to give me a call. I work in outside sales for HTC. We sell the grinders, and diamond tooling for doing polished concrete, and are the leaders in the industry. I can get you in touch with someone that could perform the work for you. Its not that hard to do, its just time consuming, and the equipment, and tooling is pretty expensive. It looks like you have about 700sq ft. Smaller jobs usually cost more per square foot. Most people would charge around $5 a square foot to polish the garage floor to a 3000 grit shine. Keep in mind that a polished concrete surface is still porous, and will still stain and etch. You really have to be careful to keep oil off of it, or it will leave a permanent stain. If you go with a concrete dye, and you have the door open most of the time, it will bleach the dye out of the floor. No one has developed a UV stable dye yet. Here is one of our websites that will tell you a little about polished concrete, and the advantages of such a flooring system.

www.superfloor.org
Scott Williams
865-765-4064

[DasBoot]

Cost per s/f? I've seen that before and just assumed it had to be poured/finished that way...

Originally Posted by SCOTITUDE

not slippery at all. Like a granite countertop. You can even have it colored. Mine came out looking like a terrazo floor. Reflects light great. Depending on the thinkness of the skim coat, they can grind until the aggregate in the concrete is exposed and the stain exaggerates the stones. Or just polish the top. FYI, try this site for a visual. Select a scene and adjust the other options.

http://www.perfectpolishonline.com/designStudio/index.html#

no affiliations.

[Gordo2]

Today I took on my front brakes.

Started with torn dust boots and a very stuck piston:



Bead blasted the calipers (thorough cleaning afterwards to remove any residual grit), and sprayed with VHT high temp paint (cast aluminum finish - used the same on my rear calipers 4 years ago and it has held up very well).

I also tried some brake caliper grease (supposedly friendly to rubber boots and such):



Coming together slowly. If I get done with this, I may have time to think about the floor again. Having dumped all sorts of fluids all over the garage floor at this point, I'm not sure I would want anything too fancy - would make me feel guilty for getting it dirty...

Gordo